The Journey
by AbeMazurRules
Summary: Rose, Dimitri, Lissa, Christian and loads of other people visit Russia so like ya it's really cool... anyway, PLX READ MY STORY.
1. The Beginning

**I do not own VA.**

Rose's Pov

The gunshot rang in my ears. I could hear Christian sobbing a few seats away from me as Tasha crumpled onto the floor. Lissa sat beside me, a large tear rolling down her cheek. Dimitri was crying a bit too, something I had never ever seen before. I had brought this sadness and pain to these people. Me.

Of course, it was kind of a good thing that Lissa finally decided to shoot her and give her a quick death. Lissa had finished university a month back and Tasha had literally been wasting away in a cell. And, ironically, it was exactly the same cage I had been locked up in. I had been there for a week. Tasha had been there for a few years. Poor Tasha.

Tasha had had her hearing ages ago and Lissa could not bring herself to announce that she was going to die. So Lissa kept delaying it until I told her that the punishment of death was a hundred times worse when you were waiting for what seemed like years in a cage like an animal in the zoo. I told her that the death will be quick and not too painful.

I realised that I too was crying softly. I hate crying. Seriously. It's embarrassing since guardians are supposed to be all hard and serious and not wimpy. Especially the Queen's head guardian. But I was crying and I felt Dimitri put his arm around my waist, hugging me tightly.

"My fault. It's my fault she's dead, Dimitri," I whispered.

"It's alright. You did what's right. You were gonna die, unfairly and for a crime you didn't do," he replied with a very soft kiss on my forehead.

Everyone was leaving after some guy did some talking, blah blah blah. Lissa did not listen either; she was too busy staring at Tasha. I wondered what she was thinking.

It was a great thing that the bond was off since I didn't have to see Lissa's sex life anymore. I swear she must have slept with Christian at least twice a week now. They were totally in love right now.

Dimitri and I left. It was not my shift with Lissa and it was not Dimitri's shift with Christian, so we hanged around in my bedroom, chatting. It was the one I'd woken up in after I had been shot by Tasha. It was the one where I had my dramatic breakup with Adrian.

Adrian. Adrian sent letters to Lissa every week, asking if I was still with Dimitri. After the breakup with me, Adrian couldn't bear living in the same area as me when I was dating another guy. So he moved to California. He's quite lonely, Lissa said, and in his letters, he always hinted that if I was free of any guys I could move to California to live with him. I thought that was sweet, but I could never leave Dimitri.

Anyway, Lissa had been queen of the Moroi for a few years now and we were all thinking that we should do that weird queen pilgrimage thing soon, to get it over and done with. We had to go to Russia and Romania since those were where most of the royal families came from and it's a queenly tradition. Like, we had to do it one day. So for Dimitri and me, it was a fun holiday. For Lissa, it was a trip with a whole load of speeches.

Russia. The whole truth dawned upon me. _That_ was why Dimitri was so excited. He could meet his family.

"Dimitri," I said uneasily, "er… by the way, when we go and visit your family, we are NOT going to St Petersburg, OK?"

"Definitely not," he agreed.

"And," I added with a gulp, "Your family have already done your funeral. It'll be like seeing the dead."

"Uh-oh," he said quietly. "That will be a problem."

"Now everything's gonna change," I said. He nodded.

The people of Russia believed that you were either alive or dead. There was no in between which is exactly what Strigoi are. So when you became Strigoi, they treated it as if you were dead, and did a funeral and whatever. And it was gonna be a lot more complicated now that people could be changed back from Strigoi, back to their alive selves, like Dimitri.

We trampled down the corridor. I went to Lissa's room while Dimitri went to Christian. Dimitri and Christian were getting really friendly with each other now. They were literally best buddies.

"Hey Liss," I said after entering. Everyone who was coming was packing hundreds of suitcases. Lissa had a briefcase full of speeches that she would do at each town. "We're not coming to St Petersburg with you. We're gonna visit the Belikovs."

"Wha- why?" she asked.

"Memories," I said simply. She nodded.

"Have you packed?" she asked.

"I've only got my rucksack, so yeah," I replied.

"Really?" she said.

"So… who's coming with us?" I asked.

"Uh… Dimitri, Christian, Jill, Eddie, some politicians and officials and some important people. Nathan Ivashkov. Lord Szelsky, that guy your mom guards. Other people. You know, like, a lot of people."

I nodded and hugged her tightly and left her with her packing. She had practically emptied her wardrobes to fill ten suitcases.

When Dimitri saw me in the corridor, we kissed for ages, before Dimitri said, "We're leaving tomorrow. We need to sleep."

I went into my room. With a sigh, I shoved my nazar into my smaller bag. There were some roses on my desk and a note.

_Dear Rose,_

_I still love you. Every day without you is agony, and you seem to be blocking the dreams too. Why did you do this to me?_

_A. _

_PS. What's your number? Do you have BBM on your BlackBerry? Do you have Skype? What the hell is your email?_

I sighed. I hadn't heard from Adrian for ages and I did want to keep touch with him. I scribbled stuff onto a loose piece of paper and put it into an envelope, writing his address. I would send the note to him tomorrow.

I sighed a third time as I turned off the light and went to bed.


	2. In Moscow

**First 2 reviews from Vampswols4L and twihearts1918! Thanks sooooo much!**

When I saw Dimitri in the room where everyone going was meant to meet up, I kissed him. He was even more handsome than usual. He had brushed his hair very carefully and his brown eyes were sparkly. And he had had another growth spurt so I literally had to stand on my toes to kiss him. He had dressed very smartly in a clean white shirt, black trousers and a duster.

"We're only going to the most important places in Russia this week," Lissa said loudly to the rest of the people going on the trip. "Moscow, St Petersburg, Novosibirsk, and a few other cities. Then next week we're in Romania."

Everyone walked to their private jets but I was put into a particularly nice jet with Lissa, who appeared to be trying to learn her speeches off by heart, some excited looking guardians, Christian and Dimitri. The boys sat together, chatting. Christian still needed some cheering up after Tasha died last night. He still cried a lot. And I still felt guilty.

Dimitri came over to me when Christian fell asleep. He looked a bit worried.

"What was the funeral like?" he asked.

"There was a human priest guy," I said slowly, "and he talked for ages, but I had to stay awake for your sake even though I didn't understand what he was saying. Then there was food, I think. Then I met Abe. Then we told stories about you. I liked the one where your older sister said that you had to marry dolls in her games with you and her friends."

Dimitri laughed. I continued. "When I had told my story and everything, I didn't say that I loved you, but they acted like I was your widow or whatever."

He laughed again and we shared a kiss. Then Christian woke up, wailing about his nightmare about Tasha. Dimitri disappeared again and Lissa sat down beside me.

"I have to say each speech in English, Romanian and Russian. I'm not allowed to have translators," she moaned.

"Sounds like school," I giggled.

"It's worse," she groaned. "I have to answer people's questions in their language! I haven't even learnt the answers and what I'm meant to say!"

I laughed. "Dimitri's a good Russian teacher. He's finally taught me the meanings of those Russian swear words!"

She giggled and went away to ask Dimitri how to say 'thank you' in Russian. I played _Brickbreaker_ on my _BlackBerry_ until we got to Russia. We landed in Moscow. It was extremely crowded and the massive party of mostly Moroi got onto this massive bus and we drove to this underground Moroi place where it was full of Moroi in posh seats around tables. There was a grand stage where they probably usually danced and there was also a drinks bar which indicated that it must have been a sort of nightclub. And there was the occasional dhampir girl flirting with a Moroi guy.

Lissa went onto her speech in English while half of the Russian people stared at her as if she was talking Gibberish. Then she said it all in Russian and then Romanian. She gave everyone a beautiful, charming smile and everyone gazed at her as if she was an angel. Everyone clapped loudly and cheered. She then went backstage and lots of people lined up to ask questions. Dimitri and I went too because the queen naturally had to have plenty of guardians when so many people were there. When we followed Lissa, Dimitri suddenly looked very frightened and stiff.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"My… dad…" he said as if he was reliving a nightmare. He was probably reliving the time he beat up his father. He slowly raised his hand and pointed at a man who was covered in purplish, faded bruises, chatting to another Moroi.

"Oh god," I whispered. Dimitri's dad would probably want Dimitri beaten up by his guardians.

We moved slightly closer to the two guys.

"So," the other man said, "why _are_ you visiting Olena tomorrow?"

Dimitri looked at me, biting his lip. We were going to the Belikov's house tomorrow.

"Because," Dimitri's dad said, "Viktoria's just had her first kid. I haven't seen them for ages."

Dimitri's eyes were wide with shock. Viktoria was younger than me and she had a child?

"Won't your son beat you up? That was sixteen years ago and he still beat you!" the other guy said anxiously.

"Na," the dad said. "He's in America. And I've heard he's a Strigoi now. Olena's been e-mailing me non-stop, moaning that her big son Dimitri was dead! Some girl who was in love with Dimitri came to the Belikovs and left real suddenly …"

We moved away quickly, not wanting to hear any more. Lissa was answering endless questions about how she was going to rule the Moroi and all the stupid stuff. She was trying to remember how to say 'dhampirs and Moroi will work together' in Russian while the old man who had asked the question patiently waited for the answer. Dimitri rushed to her side quickly speaking Russian. The man nodded, thanked Lissa and Dimitri and left quickly.

We went to this brilliant hotel with shining, flashing neon lights. The desk clerk guy was very surprised to see such a big party of people but gave us at least thirty rooms. I shared a room with Dimitri and Eddie. There were two double beds and frankly, Eddie refused to sleep in the same bed as 'the lovers' and slept in the other bed. I grinned at Dimitri cheekily. It reminded me of the few weeks when I was on the run as I was accused of murdering Tatiana. We were travelling most of the journey with an Alchemist called Sydney and she too refused to sleep in the same room as us in the motels. We had to share a bed.

When Eddie fell asleep, Dimitri kissed me and we lay in bed, gazing at each other.

"We're not having sex now," I giggled. "We have to leave at six thirty in the morning tomorrow!"

Dimitri grinned and we kissed again. Then I fell asleep.


	3. The Disaster

**Thank u, reviews from XBeautifulChaosX, XxXRose-DimitriForeverXxX and BellatrixRules!**

Dimitri was wearing a casual T-shirt and jeans but combed his hair carefully and was especially nervous.

"Why are you wearing that?" I asked when I woke up at six.

"I want them to know I'm not Strigoi," he said smiling. "And, course I need to be ready to fight. My dad, I mean."

"Ohhhhhh," I said. Then I tried to do an '_it's alright'_ look at Dimitri and kiss him on his forehead. It kinda failed since he's a lot taller than me and I'll never be a serious kind of person. So instead I kissed him on the lips.

We went for early breakfast and then went back to our rooms and I got my rucksack while Dimitri got his suitcase and after we said bye to Lissa, Christian, Eddie and my mom, we left. We got a taxi and we arrived in Dimitri's home town. He was very excited as we got out of the cab and walked to the house. We rang the doorbell nervously. Olena opened the door. She looked tired and sad.

"Hello, who are -?" she said pleasantly, looking at me. "Oh. You're the girl who brought the news of Dimitri's death. Why did you leave so suddenly?"

She looked at Dimitri and screamed. She was moaning, "I wish I had my old stake… no, no, no!" while running up the stairs in fright.

Karolina and Sonya raced down the stairs immediately, with two extremely blunt stakes, expecting to meet ordinary Strigoi. When they saw Dimitri, they too screamed.

"Mom! Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" Sonya yelled.

"Sonya! I'm a dhampir!" Dimitri said calmly.

"No! THAT GIRL TOLD US YEARS AGO! YOU'RE A STRIGOI!" Karolina screamed.

Dimitri stepped into the sunlight and the sisters stared at his brown eyes.

"Get into the sun more," Karolina growled, pushing Dimitri with the end of the stake.

"I'm not a Stigoi, Karolina," he said, smiling with his teeth.

Sonya studied him, and then glared at me. "You lied!" she said shrilly. "Get lost, you foul liar!"

"No, Sonya," he said. "She told the truth. I was Stigoi before; but the queen of Moroi staked me with a spirit stake and I am dhampir now."

"Then… come in," Karolina said quietly. "Both of you."

We stepped into the cool house and upstairs where Olena was trembling, while holding the new baby.

"You staked him?" she asked the sisters but her eyes widened in fear as Dimitri and I came in. "You…you… oh my god. You're dhampir." She turned to me. "You? Did you lie about my Dimitri?"

"She didn't lie, Mom," Dimitri said. "I was Stigoi but I was turned back. It was WONDERFUL."

She blinked and frowned. She raised her eyebrows, then said, "Sonya, make some soup with me. Karolina, go and look after Viktoria. Dimitri and Rose… you can put your stuff in Viktoria's room. Viktoria's in my bedroom, Karolina. And your father's coming, Sonya. Don't mess the soup."

As soon as Dimitri entered Viktoria's room, Dimitri gasped and flung himself onto the sheets, while I grinned.

"Ya know, where are your Western Novels?" I teased.

"In this bag!" he said excitedly pulling a large book out of a bag.

We left the room. "Oooh, wanna visit Viktoria?" Dimitri asked.

My grin faded. "I would love to," I said biting my lip, "but the thing is, I kinda ruined her relationship with this Moroi guy who she loved and he didn't really love her."

"It's alright. She's probably forgotten," he replied uneasily.

When we entered the room, Karolina was sitting near Viktoria, reading a book. "Hi Dimka. Hey Rose."

"Hi, Karolina," I said pleasantly.

She smiled. "How on earth did you him get dhampir?"

"Mark and Oksana told me about this guy who healed a woman from being Strigoi. Said it was a fairytale. But we found the guy and got the info out of him. And then I killed his brother," I said.

The rest of the story was cut off because Viktoria had woken up. She stared at both Dimitri and me and then gave a very high pitched scream. Karolina explained quietly to her that my friends and I had got Dimitri back into a dhampir and after a very long silence, Viktoria calmed down.

"But – but – I don't want – HER in the room!" she wailed noisily. "I don't want Dimitri in here either."

"Viktoria, I'm your older brother," Dimitri said very calmly.

"But you were a monster four years ago!" she cried.

"I'm not now. And why don't you want Roza in the room?" he asked. Three sets of eyes turned to me.

"She – she hasn't told you?" she said angrily. "You don't feel shame for ruining my love with him?"

"Of course I do," I lied, crossing my fingers behind my back.

Viktoria glared hatefully at me, and then pointed furiously at a brown bottle, which Karolina opened and poured the disgusting looking medicine into a spoon, sliding the spoon into her mouth.

"You guys should get out of the room now," she suggested and Dimitri shrugged and we left.

"Can we go to Mark and Oksana's house now? I wanna say hi to them," I said.

"Yeah," he said with a grin and we kissed randomly. Then Sonya walked into the room we were in.

"Hi, guys. Dad's coming now – oh. Sorry," she said and we turned round and I embarrassedly blushed. "Um, so, uh, Dimka, I think you should leave. We can, uh, phone you when Dad goes."

Dimitri nodded and we got bags and slipped out the back door when we heard Dimitri's dad and his friend enter the house. Dimitri was fuming with anger when we got outside.

"Stupid, I won't – won't let – him – Mom," he was muttering.

"Huh?" I said.

"I won't let him beat up Mom or be mean to her."

"Oh," I said.

We walked the entire way, chatting. We got to the subject of Yeva and how cool I thought she was and how suckish Dimitri thought she was.

"She's SOOO funny!" I giggled. "She made me carry bricks and hundreds of other stuff to Mark and Oksana's and kicked me till I got out of bed!"

When we got there Mark and Oksana were very surprised to see us. "Dimitri? We thought you were – Strigoi!"

He told them the story and they were very surprised that it wasn't' a fairy tale. We had tea with them and we waited till there was the phone call.

"Shit, shit shit," I muttered. "Do you think I dropped the phone?"

He shook his head, holding up the mobile and we were all very confused and a bit scared. In the end we said bye to Mark and Oksana who had been very nice to us and we left, walking briskly to the Belikovs.

When we got there, the house was in flames. Sonya and Karolina were both crying softly as they jumped out of the window and landed with a thud and Olena was looking very worried and sad. Yeva walked outside calmly and she coughed from the smoke rising above. Viktoria lay on the hard grassy ground, looking unconscious. We arrived in time to see a posh sports car drive into the distance.

We ran to the burning house. Most of the family were crowding around Viktoria and we joined them. Then realisation got to me. She was dead.

Karolina and Sonya were both sobbing but Olena tried desperately to cure her. It was no use. She lay very still and silently on the floor like a coloured statue.

"It's all my fault!" cried Sonya. "If I hadn't messed up the soup, Dad wouldn't have got angry and Viktoria wouldn't have yelled at him which caused him to lose control so he let out fire so Viktoria suffocated!"

"It's no one's fault, Sonya," Olena said quietly.

"It's alright," I said, my voice trembling. "She – we can get her to Oksana, who can bring her back as a shadow-kissed?"

"It'll be too late, Roza," Dimitri said very softly. "And anyway, it's very, very unhealthy to get too many shadow-kissed on you."

I nodded, sadly. The Belikovs started to talk rapidly about funerals and everything. I stood up and mournfully walked to the house which was just piles of burned rubble and bricks, Dimitri following shortly behind.


	4. Adrian in California

Adrian's POV

I was feeling very lonely in California in this massive house, by myself and the Alchemist Sydney. Sydney lived with me because she had decided that she would rather live in a mansion than live in New Orleans any day. Well, as long as her room was as far from me as possible, since I'm an 'evil creature of the night'. I was fine with it. The only girl I'd ever want to sleep with was Rose.

Rose. I couldn't imagine why she would fall in love with this guy who was way too tall for her and had this ridiculous accent. Yeah, fine, he was a good fighter and not a victim and whatever, but still… he was an idiot. Well, that was kinda mean of me to say that, but you know, I'm a jealous guy.

I was feeling extremely lonely that day. Jill, who lived in the mansion, had to go to the stupid trip with Rose and Lissa and everyone coz she's totally an important royal Moroi. I was sad to see her go. She was good at comforting me when I flew into uncontrolled tantrums about Rose and why we could not be together.

But now I was on my own.

Sydney was not much help. She stayed in her room and only came out at meals. She spent the least amount of time she could with me even though I was paying for 90 per cent of everything.

That day, when I received the note from Rose with her email on it, was a very happy day. Maybe she still cared a bit about me.

I probably sent hundreds of emails before I realised she must be in St Petersburg. Maybe she hadn't brought her laptop with her. I sighed. Lissa, Eddie, Jill and Abe probably had their phones with them. I texted Lissa.

_Hey Liss_

_r u alright? how's th trip goin? is rose alright? i hope sh is _

I grinned and sent the message.

Two minutes later I had my reply.

_Hi Adrian_

_i don't know if rose is alright ive bin worried all night she left 4 the belikovs yesterday morning not back yet wont answer phone either _

_Lissa _

I bit my lip worriedly.

_Hi Liss_

_uh oh how many people from the group went there? _

_Hey Adrian_

_Just Dimitri + Rose. And if ure gonna ask, I think theyre still together._

I nervously typed in the message to Lissa:

_U think?_

A few seconds later the text came back.

_Yeah. Last time i sw them 2gether ws yestrday at moscow sngging while i had 2 answr questions 2 peopl _ _xxx_

I was trembling with shock and fear for Rose as I sent the message.

_And … where's the Belikov house?_

_Somewhere in Siberia. Baia i fink. _

_Thx_

_Adrian_

I jumped into bed, snuggling up with my soft blankets. I felt small tears run down my cheeks and I cried and cried and cried. I couldn't lose Rose. She was literally the only thing that kept me going, the hope of us getting together again. And if she died then … I would kill myself.

Well, not kill myself. There would be no point in living. You know what I mean.

And as I rubbed away my tears, I knew what I must do.

**Plx review!**


	5. Adrian goes to Russia

Adrian's POV

I walked out of the private helicopter, pulling my suitcase with me. I looked around the grassy field and the pilot who had been driving said, "Baia, sir."

I nodded and paid him the money before I went to the road and called a taxi.

"Er, Belikov house?" I asked, hoping that he would know that place.

He grimaced. "There's been a nasty fire, sir. Just ruins there."

I bit my lip anxiously. "Take me to the ruins of the house," I ordered.

He nodded and we drove off. When the taxi reached the place where the Belikov house had been, I gasped, clutching my mouth in shock. All I could see was piles of rubble and burnt brick. I paid the guy and then ran inside.

I grabbed a piece of metal that was Rose's burnt BlackBerry phone. Then I saw a shirt that I knew was Rose's. I knelt down on my knees and sobbed so much I would have usually been ashamed. She was dead and I pretty much knew it. In my grief, I smashed my BlackBerry phone the second time it vibrated.

"Why does everything happen to me?" I yelled, grabbing a picture of Rose and me from my bag and ripping it all up into shreds.

I ran back to the grass garden thing, sobbing. I really wished someone would just kill me than me live in this grief. I grabbed my bag and flung it into the water. Then I saw a stake lying on the ground. I took it and pressed it to my throat.


	6. Confusion

**Thanks so much for the brilliant reviews!**

**Rose's POV**

After the funeral, we left to go to Novosibirsk where Lissa was supposed to be. When we found her and the rest of the people, she looked extremely happy. She hugged us both very tightly and I was overjoyed to see her too. When Christian found Dimitri, they walked off happily, arm in arm. I told Lissa what had happened and she looked very worried.

"We can go to Baia after this speech," she promised.

Then the man came into the dressing room and asked for the queen to do her speech. She was wearing the most beautiful purple flowery dress I had ever seen and small lilac high heels. Her golden hair was tied into a pretty ponytail and as she spoke to hundreds of Moroi, she gave winning smiles to everyone. I felt very happy after the horrific events that had happened in Baia.

After the questions, we got into a private jet and we flew to Baia and landed in a field of wet damp grass and got a taxi to the ruins of the Belikov house.

"Y'know what?" the taxi driver said. "An hour ago, this tall guy asked to go to the Belikov house from this spot in the road. Are you tryin' to chase 'im or something?"

I shrugged and the taxi driver laughed. "Of course, I don't usually get two beautiful ladies, an extremely tall guy and another pretty tall guy in my humble taxi," he said.

When we got there, we paid and walked to the pile of rubble. I saw the man – a Moroi – slowly grasping a stake and pressing it to his throat. Dimitri said that he would go and get his family from the woods where they had made a hut and Christian said he would go too. Lissa was going to inspect the ruins. I went to the man and tried to calm him down.

"Er – excuse me, what are you doing?" I asked, taking the blunt stake from his hands.

"Killing myself," he said plainly, still not looking up.

"Why are you doing that?" I asked.

"Love. It hurts, you know?" he replied with a sob.

"Er - ?"

"A girl. She died. And I loved her," he sobbed.

"Her?" I pointed at the grave of Viktoria. "That grave over there?"

He looked at it but I couldn't see his face. He paused. "Yeah. I think so."

"So… are you the guy who got her pregnant?"

He tensed a lot and his body went very rigid, which suggested that he was very, very, very shocked and surprised. Then he whispered loudly, the word, "Pregnant?"


	7. Adrian the Kidnapper

**Adrian's POV**

When I heard the word 'pregnant', my heart skipped a beat. I was so shocked and the woman's voice behind me said, "Didn't you know she was pregnant?"

I shook my head. "I haven't seen her for ages."

"When's the last time you slept with her?" she said.

I was very confused. I had never done that with her. I just carried on with the conversation. Even if it wasn't my kid, I would want to look after it since it's Rose's.

"Did she die pregnant?" I asked, crying a bit.

"No," she said. "She gave birth a day before she died."

"Where's the baby?" I demanded. "I think it's my right to look after the baby."

"The girl is in the forest," the woman said behind me.

"Thanks," I said standing up.

"Should I take you there?" the woman said anxiously.

"I'm fine," I said excitedly.

I ran away into the forest before the woman could say anything else.

oOo

It took me a while to get to the family. When I found them, they seemed to be huddling in the hut. I was going to go inside but I saw a young woman cradling a beautiful baby by the river. I made a campfire sort of thing quite near the hut and then I stood behind a tree which was behind her and shouted, "Fire!" in hope that she would drop the baby and run to help her family. As soon as she heard this, she turned around and saw smoke rising into the sky. She shrieked and carefully put the little baby on a rock, telling her to stay there and she ran towards the hut in fear. I grabbed the tiny child and ran the other direction. I got onto the road and got a taxi to that field and called for my private jet to come and land on the field. I climbed on board and gave the child a blanket, knowing I should take care of her the best I could, since she was Rose's baby.

**Rose's POV**

When he ran into the forest in search for the kid which was his and Viktoria's baby, I felt very weird. My instinct was to run to Lissa and tell her what I had done. I ran and bits of paper blew into my face. Not just any paper. It was photo paper, by the way it felt. I grabbed a piece and another, realising that they fitted together. They fitted together to make part of a photo. And that part of the photo showed a necklace. Or rather a nazar. _My_ nazar.

My heart stopped beating for a second. I was so shocked I simply stood there, staring at the photo, paralysed.

So the photo must have had me in it. Maybe it was just a photo of me and Dimitri. I wore my nazar full time now. But why would Dimitri tear a photo up?

Maybe he was just having a tantrum for some weird reason. But I couldn't be so sure.

I went to my kitchen, where I had left my BlackBerry phone. When I saw it I realised that it was burnt, and I could not text Dimitri. I swore, but I noticed another BlackBerry. It was crushed and squashed and had a marvellous dark blue phone case. Maybe one of the Belikovs had a BlackBerry too. But why on earth was it crushed on instead of burnt?

I leaned closer and picked the phone up carefully. And I recognised it instantly.

_Adrian Ivashkov._


	8. Chaos

**Thanks for ALL the brilliant reviews I've received! WAHOO!**

**Rose's POV**

I was horrified. So Adrian had visited Baia, but why had he come? I was still being puzzled when Lissa came.

"Hey Rose," she said.

"Er – Liss," I said slowly. "This is Adrian's BlackBerry. And I'm pretty sure these bits of photo are his too. Why did he tear it up?"

She smiled. "I found this in the river too. Adrian's rucksack. With all his stuff in it. Like, his backpack is filled with pictures of you!"

I was so confused. Why on earth did he come? Was it because of me or Lissa? Or was it because he wanted to be part of the travelling party?

I shoved his stuff into my bag. When we get back to America, I could give it to him and ask him what the hell he was doing in the middle of Russia.

"Let's go back and go back to Novosibirsk where the rest of the group are," Lissa said quickly. We walked through the beautiful forest. But I could smell the smell of fire and burning wood. There were loud panicked screams and Dimitri and Christian ran up to us, panting.

"There was a fire… someone set fire to the hut… baby's gone… awful!" Christian said, gasping for breath.

"Just gone," Dimitri said. "Vicky's baby has disappeared! And Mom's panicking. Sonya thinks the baby might have toppled into the water. Left her on a rock."

I was totally shocked. The man, whoever he was had kidnapped the baby.

"Someone's kidnapped her," I said before thinking.

"Huh?" Lissa said, confused.

I didn't want everyone to know that I had told the man where the baby was, so I quickly said, "I think. I'm not sure."

We ran back to the hut. The family had managed to beat away most of the fire, but Sonya's dress had caught fire and a bright orange flame was burning away the material. She was screaming and beating away the fire and taking off her silky dress. When Olena saw Dimitri and Christian, she shooed them away with little Paul and when Sonya had completely taken off all her clothes, Lissa and I had to walk away too.

When they found new clothes for Sonya to wear, we came back as a five. We told the Belikovs that we could take them with us and find them somewhere to stay while the house would be rebuild (Lissa had offered to pay for it). They agreed, and we walked over to the road to get a cab.

There was a cute hotel on the suburbs of Baia and we dropped them there. But as they came out of the taxi, tall, lean bodies grabbed them and Dimitri and I jumped out after them. Then I felt a wave of nausea.

_Strigoi attack. _

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	9. Strigoi fight

**Rose's POV**

When I jumped out of the taxi, the guy was very confused as he was told that the family would get out but me, Dimitri, Lissa and Christian would stay in and go to that big road where we had caught our first cab. The guy drove off without us. That was good because I didn't want the human taxi driver to watch us have a fight in an empty street. But it also meant we were stranded.

I turned around and kicked the first Strigoi, to give me time to get my stake out of my coat pocket. But when I turned round, I saw about twenty or more Strigoi, grabbing, hitting, and torturing those poor Belikovs. Two more grabbed me roughly, and I turned around and, startled, saw Dimitri's father with dark red eyes and pale white skin near my face as his two helpers held me. I forgot what I was doing. I shrieked so loudly Olena turned and screamed.

"I vow revenge," the dad whispered menacingly in my ear. "How they've treated me through the years… but I'll have revenge… now I'm better, more powerful!"

I knew I could not kill my boyfriend's dad but I pulled my arm from one Strigoi's grip and gave him a very hard punch in the face. He scowled a bit as he was a newly turned Strigoi but he carried on whispering in my ear when the other Strigoi held my arm down again.

"I was Awakened by my choice… but I think you'd do _very_ well as a Strigoi… and of course, my son… your little boyfriend," he whispered with a quiet cackle. "I would have _never _guessed he was such a brilliant fighter. But of course," he said with a mocking sigh, "I'm afraid, they will have to go. I'll have them for dinner. And I'll have Dimitri's batty grandma for dessert."

"You bastard!" I cried. "You can't do that! I won't let you!"

I broke free of both Strigoi and reached into my pocket for my stake. Then I turned around and staked one of the Strigoi who had been holding my down and pulled the stake out of his heart. I kicked Dimitri's dad in the place where the sun don't shine and when he was moaning a bit, I staked the other Strigoi and left her lying lifelessly on the pavement. His dad had recovered and ran over to me where I had killed four Strigoi. Angrily, he went for my neck but I cut half of his arm off with a single, swift movement of my stake. He roared with pain and clutched his arm, but I did not harm him anymore than this. Leaving him kneeling on the grey wet pavement, I went for Olena's capturer and cut her arm off. I pulled her around, staked her and Olena was freed. Dimitri was a blur in the air as he spun around restlessly, killing Stigoi. In the roaring wind, the screams of the dying Strigoi was not much at all.

I usually carried around more than one stake in my massive coat pockets, so I handed a stake to Karolina after Dimitri saved her and one to Sonya. They were both very good fighters and I was slightly angry that they shouldn't be guardians too. They were not quite as good as me or Dimitri but clearly had talent. They too twirled around killing Strigoi. Soon we had killed all twenty three Strigoi.

I pulled out some Alchemist powdery potion stuff and sprinkled a bit onto each of them. It had been a gift from Sydney for Christmas when I had given her a party dress and she hadn't given me anything. So she quickly handed the powder stuff in a big bottle to me, as a last minute present. I loved it as I loved my small cow toy I had bought when I was seven and as I loved Dimitri.

We were left standing in the middle of an empty street, shivering.

"So, er, Mom," Dimitri said. "What are we gonna do now?"

"Dimka, you have an American accent now!" Yeva said to Dimitri, shaking her head.

"I don't, Grandma," he said.

"Yeah, you kinda do, Dimka," Karolina said, sniggering a bit.

"Shut up, Karolina," he said, looking annoyed, "but the hotel won't be safe."

"They'll come with us, maybe," I said earnestly. "Maybe they could migrate to America with us, and live near the Royal Court?"

"No," Yeva said.

"Yeah, good plan," Sonya said eagerly.

"We could live with Dimka, Grandma!" Karolina said excitedly.

"No, your Grandma says NO," Olena said glaring at Karolina. "But I wouldn't say no. Why don't we migrate to America, girls?"

"Yeah!" the sisters said eagerly.

"No," Yeva said crossly.

"Mom, you'll only need to be there for a couple of months," Olena said.

"No. I'm not living in Russia without my family," Yeva said.

"Then why don't you stay in America, then, Grandma?" Sonya asked.

"Because Russia is my country!" Yeva said.

"Russia is my country but I live in America!" Dimitri said.

Yeva glared at him but when the taxi arrived, Yeva got in.

We got on the private helicopter, when we got there, where Lissa and Christian were waiting, even paler faced than usual. They looked very relieved when we came in.

"The family's migrating to America," I explaned. "It might be a squish," I added.

"Got rid of all of them Strigoi," Dimitri said to Christian.

"No we didn't," Olena said suddenly. "Not your father, Dimitri."

Everyone fell silent. So if he was still alive – well not really alive – then he would have heard the whole conversation.

"He wouldn't go all the way to America because of us," I said quickly.

"Not that he would go anywhere with one arm," Karolina joked.

Everyone fell silent. Strigoi could grow their arms back quite quickly.

"Start up the helicopter!" shouted Christian to the driver, in the middle of the silence.

We flew into the sky and soon we reached Novosibirsk. Everyone was quite happy to see us **(Mom, Janine Hathaway: "You could have been **_**killed**_**!") **and we settled down in the hotel to sleep. This time, my mom demanded that she would much rather sleep in the same room as me than fat little Meredith, who my mom had to share a bed with last night, so I slept in the same bed as her, while Dimitri slept in the other one.

When we woke up, Lissa was wearing a beautiful green dress, and matching high heels and charmed all of the cooks, so they gave her the nicest food. I wore a grey sweater and black trousers, with trainers and my hair was up, and you could see hundreds and hundreds of tiny dotty stuff. For some reason, after the battle thing at St Vlad's, they picked up again and gave me those stuff, so it went all down my shoulders and back and I even had two at the top of my right arm. My mom said that I had probably broken the record. And now I had to add twelve more. Great.

Anyway, when we left the hotel, we went and did another speech and then we flew to Romania for another boring week of speeches.

**Hey guys and girls! I hope you've loved the story so far! So er... can you review for me? It would make me the happiest person on the world if you did! I would just like a word or sentence (awesome, cool, suckish)! Thank you!**


	10. Palm Springs Mansion

**Adrian's POV**

When I got into the private jet, I kinda was expecting to have a bit of peace and quiet to look after the baby. But once again, the guy came to the front of the almost empty plane.

"…and below us is London, England, and we are approximately flying over the London Eye, which is an extremely big Big wheel…" The guy was droning on.

"Shut it," I hissed at him and he sort of glared at me and went back to the pilot.

I held the baby, rocking her very gently and slowly and I tried to think of a nice name for her. She had lovely tufts of hazel brown hair and had beautiful, innocent brown eyes that stared at me, blinking harmlessly.

"Hello, Hazel," I said to the baby.

The guy came back a couple of hours later.

"And now, we are hovering over Palm Springs Mansion, so would you like to drop down into your garden or - ?"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," I said, wrapping the baby tightly in the blankets.

I walked over the massive garden to the mansion. I went to the West Wing of the mansion, my wing. The North Wing was Jill's wing and the East was Sydney's. The South wing was unused but we used it as a guest house when Lissa came, which was once a year.

On the way to my room, I bumped into Sydney, who glared at me and went downstairs. I glared back at her and entered my room. It was small, because I secretly like to sleep in a smaller, cosier room. Of course I had plenty of other rooms that were also mine, and I put my things in there, and I only decorated those rooms. My bedroom's walls were so, so bare.

I put Hazel in a crib for now and let her sleep there. I put one of my servants there to get some clothes for tiny Hazel, and make sure she didn't get upset. Then I went downstairs. I crept outside the mansion through the side door, got my motorbike and zoomed off to town.

**Rose's POV**

After the trip to Romania, we got into the private jet and flew back to America. The Belikovs seemed very bored and tired now and couldn't wait to get to America at last.

"I'm sure that Adrian would love to have you all in his mansion. And of course, Sydney, who lives with them…" I glanced nervously at them while talking about Sydney, who hated dhampirs, Strigoi and Moroi. "Anyway, there's Jill living in the mansion too, she's here, on the trip, Lissa's little sis…"

Karolina smiled. During the trip she had got quite friendly with Jill, who was nineteen and had rather recently finished school and was going to start university in a week, having been delayed because of royal reasons.

After two hours, Dimitri said to his family, "Welcome to America."

They ran to the windows and gazed down at the buildings.

"Yeah, welcome to America," I muttered.

"It's a bit of a shame, though," Sonya sighed. "We won't find little Elvira in America."

"We might," I said, thinking of the guy I'd seen at the Belikov house, the one who had the American accent.

"We won't,"Olena said sorrowfully.

"But we're in America! We should enjoy it," Karolina said, eagerly.

There was a small thud as we landed in Palm Springs Mansion garden.

"So, the Belikovs are leaving here?" Christian asked.

"I want a word with Adrian," I said. "Dimitri, you coming to see your family off?"

"Yeah, I should," he said.

We got off. "So, er, want me to tour you round?" I said.

"Yeah," Sonya said.

"It's fine, I'll do the tour," a voice said behind me.

"Sydney?" Dimitri said.

"Sydney!" I yelled and hugged her.

She was touring us round when I asked, "Where's Adrian?"

"Gone shoppin'," she replied.

We had entered the West Wing of the mansion and we had just stepped into Adrian's sitting room when I feel sick. I could see photos of me all around the walls and a big, lovely sketch of me on the ceiling.

"Wow he likes you," Paul said.

"Just going to the loo," I said quickly.

I raced off to Adrian's private loos, but it was not long before I heard a cry of joy, footsteps and a panicked scream of, "What the hell are you Russian folk doing to her!?"

And the thing was, I knew exactly who the man I had met at the Belikov house was.

**Thanks so much for reading my stories! It would be the highlight of my day if you wrote a review for me! I couldn't care less if you just wrote a simple word or phrase! :D **

**AbeMazurRules xxx**


	11. Hazel Hathaway or Elvira Belikov?

**Thanks for all the wonderful reviews!**

**Rose's POV**

I flushed the toilet quickly, washed my hands and burst out of the bathroom. Panting, I ran down the corridor and into Adrian's private sitting room. No one was there. I went into the room that was next to it, but the one next to it was Adrian's bedroom. No one noticed me except for Dimitri, and they all seemed to be arguing. The room was very small and fitted a comfy bed, a desk, a small babies' bed and a laptop. And it also seemed to fit Olena, Yeva, Karolina, Sonya, Paul, Karolina's other kid, Sonya's kid, Dimitri, Adrian, a tiny baby and me. And not just any tiny baby.

_Elvira Belikov, daughter of Viktoria Belikov and Adrian Ivashkov._

"Don't take Hazel!" Adrian was screaming.

"She's Elvira! Her mother named her that! Don't you have any respect for the dead?" Olena screamed. "Why did you kidnap her?"

"I did it because I appear to be her father!" Adrian snapped back, attempting to grab Hazel or Elvira or whatever her name was out of Olena's kind soft arms.

"You're not! She wouldn't go out with someone as vile as you!" Karolina hissed.

"I'm not vile!" growled Adrian, angrier than I had ever seen him before. "She belongs here, in America! Her parents were Americans!"

"Viktoria Belikov was not American and I doubt that she had a baby with an American!" Olena snapped.

The room suddenly went quiet.

But why?

**Adrian's POV**

Why did they call Rose Viktoria? Maybe that was the Russian version of Rose... but I wasn't too sure.

"Hey guys what's going on?" a very familiar voice called somewhere in the crowd of people.

Rose Hathaway poked her head up in the crowd. I fell in love with her all over again. It was a lot better seeing her real face than the photos all around me. I loved her hair, the way she smiled, the way she seemed to glow in the crowd of people. I took a step towards her but took a step back again, realizing that I had wanted to kiss her soft lips again. I was in a dream... the time I had almost slept with her.

But I realized again where I was. I didn't fight for the baby now. What was the point when I knew Rose was one hundred percent alive?

"What's going on?" I said. "Can I have a word with Rose, please? Oh, and you can take the baby."

"Yeah, I'll have a word with you, too," Rose muttered.

The Belikovs walked out the room, hugging the crying baby. Rose and I were left in the room.

"Alright, explain, will you?" I said.

"OK, right, why were you in Russia?" Rose snapped, tossing my soggy wet rucksack and smashed BlackBerry phone at me.

"I thought you were dead!" I snapped.

"Why did you think that?" she sneered.

"Lissa texted me," I said, taking a few steps closer to her.

"Yeah?" she snapped with an angry toss of her long dark hair.

"She said you were missing," I said, taking another quick step towards her.

"And?" she sneered.

I took another step towards her. Now she was a feet away from me. "I was worried.

"You shouldn't have gone all the way to Russia. We aren't dating anymore. We don't love each other," she said.

"Well I am," I said, grabbing her hands and kissing her. It was barely a kiss because she pulled away the second I touched her lips.

"No you don't!" she screeched, punching me in the face. "We don't love each other any more. We don't."

"I do! Why can't you love me anymore?" I asked.

"Because I'm with Dimitri, and I don't feel that way about you anymore and there ain't a simpler way to put it. I'm sorry," she said, looking at her feet.

"Why? Why did you do this to me?" I cried.

"We can be friends, but we won't work as a couple," she said.

"That's a bullshit break up line, as I told you before," I said.

"Well, we're not breaking up right now!" she snapped.

"Maybe I should get a new girlfriend," I said sadly.

"Yes. And I do want to be friends with you," she said softly.

"Yes maybe... maybe I should," I said.


	12. Welcome Home

**Rose's POV**

Adrian sat down on his chair. There was a kind of awkward silence and it was kinda hard to believe that we had once been girlfriend and boyfriend. I told him that we should be friends and have a Skype chat someday. I hurried out of the room where Dimitri was lounging on a couch, cradling Elvira/Hazel.

"Hey," I said dismally.

"How was it?" he said.

"Awkward. Really awkward," I replied.

He laughed. "Really, we should leave. Lissa and Christian will be waiting."

"OK," I said. "Bye, Elvira."

Dimitri smiled. "We're thinking of calling her Hazel. It suits her a lot better."

"What the hell?" I said.

"Adrian's a good namer," Dimitri said, as we walked out the back door of the mansion. The helicopter was still there and Lissa waved at me and Dimitri as the door of the helicopter opened.

We flew all the way back to the Royal Court. There was a huge 'welcome back' dinner waiting for us there. I walked hurriedly to the guardian section of the Royal Court, got a clean guardian uniform and went all the way back to the massive dinner room, where everyone was eating. Lissa beamed at me, as I entered the hall, and pointed at the seat next to her. I walked up to her.

"_Honestly_, Liss," I said to her crossly. "I'm meant to guarding the door. I'm not meant to be eating stuff like this, I'll get fat. I have to eat nice healthy things, not things like-" I suddenly saw a waiter offering huge pizzas. "P-p-pizza…" I said dreamily and sat down immediately.

Lissa laughed and pushed a massive pepperoni pizza towards me. It smelt gorgeous and made me want to kiss it, though I couldn't because I was surrounded by important Moroi people who would think I was a total weirdo if I did. The edge of the pizza was beautifully crispy and slightly burnt and the pizza was thin and crunchy… Perfect…

I gobbled it up and when I had finished it, I took a plate of pasta and ate it.

"Well, I must say it's good not having to eat Russian food for once!" I said grinning, to Lissa. She laughed, pushing chicken drumsticks towards me.

"Want some?" she asked me.

"Ya," I mumbled grabbing one and shoving it onto my plate.

"It's great not having Hans around to boss me around like a kid. He's miles away in the guardian bit of Royal Court…" I mumbled. "Imagine if he was here, he would be yelling at me for _eating…_"

"HATHAWAY!" yelled someone behind me.

Hans stormed up to me and grabbed my arm. "Honestly, you call yourself a guardian… WE'VE BEEN LOOKING ALL OVER FOR YOU! YOU WERE MEANT TO BE GUARDING THE DOOR!"

Some of the Moroi were staring at us. Hans smiled awkwardly at them and suddenly noticed Lissa beside me.

"Your Highness. So sorry," he said, bowing quickly.

"Hans," Liss said. "Er- do you mind if rose stays here? We've been to Russia and it is good having good old American food… ya know?"

Hans stared at us. "Alright – your Majesty." He ran away. Liss and I looked at each other and then burst out laughing. Everyone was staring at us.

"Laughing isn't illegal, is it?" I said to the old lady next to me.

She stared at me.

"OK, OK. So what if we laughed a bit loudly?" I snapped.

She turned away and started talking to the other person next to her.

"Old people. They never get jokes do they?" I told Lissa.

She sniggered.

"OK, I'm going. I feel sick," I mumbled.

"I'm going to bed, too," Lissa said.

As I walked back to my room slowly, I could feel my stomach painfully aching with the amount of food I had eaten. I felt so sick I could hardly hold myself up… and as I collapsed, I could not stop myself throwing up.

"Rose!" I heard Dimitri shout behind me.

A group of guardians seemed to have been going to bed after a long day of work. Dimitri ran up to me, hugged me and ordered Eddie to go and get a barf bag and something to clean the sick up in.

"Hans told us you got to eat at the feast with the Queen," Meredith said enviously, as she helped me to my feet.

"Where am I going?" I asked.

"Hospital," Meredith said, smiling at me. "It's awesome. The beds are super comfy and they have the nicest pillows ever and softest blankets and the nurses treat you like royalty. You know… the only time I went there was when you beat me in the fight four years ago when you were escaping prison… thanks for hitting me!"

I smiled weakly and we entered the hospital and the nurse put me in a bed that was every bit as comfortable as Meredith had described and I fell asleep.


	13. Fight at Court

**Hi everyone! I hope you've liked my story so far! Please please please review at the end of this chapter, it would totally make me the happiest person ever!**

"Wake up, you blooming idiot!" snapped my mom, for the hundredth time.

"Honestly, Mom, I didn't know you swore," I said sleepily.

"I don't, that was just to wake you up," Mom said. "But it's great that you've woken up! You didn't show any sign of being alive and I was so worried… but never mind… I've got a gift for you! RISE AND SHINE!"

My mom thrust a bouquet of daffodils right up near my nose. "Mom! That is just so sweet!"

"Thank you, dear," she said taking the bunch of flowers and putting them on the bedside table. "Eddie, Dimitri, Meredith, Hans is probably going to explode if you don't get down in five minutes. Rose, I need to leave now. Love you." She picked up her bag and left the room promptly.

I looked up and then realised that there was a small crowd of friends around my small bed. I smiled at them, looked around and realised that Lissa was not there. Dimitri, Meredith, Christian, Eddie and Mia smiled at me. I noticed that Eddie and Mia were standing arm in arm.

"What's new, guys?" I asked.

Dimitri opened his mouth but Eddie, who was eager to tell me something, got there first. "I'm dating MIA!

"What the hell?" I mumbled.

"When I went to get a barf bag last night I heard Mia breaking up with her old boyfriend and she came to me crying. Then I promised I would help her cheer up and asked her out!" he said excitedly.

"Eddie – that's great!" I said.

"Yeah anyway," Dimitri said quickly. "A group of Strigoi have just attacked. You don't need to come. Hans has decided that we had better not risk getting you killed; you're one of the best."

I gasped and accidentally fell out of bed in shock. "Well, then what are you lot doing here?" Eddie, Mia and Meredith ran out of the room after plonking their gifts on the table. "And I'm coming too," I added, pulling my sweater and jeans over my pyjamas.

"Oh no you're not," Dimitri hissed.

"I am," I snapped.

"No way! You're ill!" he snapped.

"And do I care? NO!" I yelled.

"Rose, I love you!" Dimitri said.

"And get out, Christian," I said quietly.

"No way. I can sit where I like. And I like watching you argue!" he snapped.

"Ok then," I said, pulling Dimitri in and kissing him passionately.

"OK fine then!" Christian said running out the door.

Dimitri laughed. "Roza," Dimitri said to me, giving me a really cute Get Well card and putting a beautiful rose necklace onto my neck.

"It's beautiful…" I sighed. "But we need to go. Now."

We raced down the stairs and into the dining hall. It was chaos. I could see my mom kicking a Strigoi repeatedly and Eddie was staking the surrounding Strigoi. But there was one strange Strigoi. I remembered him; I had seen him before, definitely. Dimitri saw him too and stopped running to look at him in horror; it was Dimitri's own dad.

He was scarred from our fight in Russia and he slightly limped on one leg, but other than that, he was completely normal. We had totally forgotten that Strigoi could heal rather quickly. He had probably sat on that pavement for a day, maybe more, and then he would have healed.

Dimitri suddenly turned around and staked a Strigoi who was coming towards us. "Don't let him see us, Lissa or Christian." Lissa was leading a group of terrified Moroi to the Church which was quite near but Christian was burning two Strigoi who were coming for Mia, yelling, "DON'T YOU DARE TRY AND STRANGLE ANY OF MY FRIENDS!"

I staked a Strigoi lady with flaming red hair who had tried to snap my spine. My back was throbbing with pain. I squatted down, rubbing my back. I did not notice Dimitri's dad coming towards me. He leaned forward and broke one of my fingers. I screamed with pain and reached for my stake with the other hand, but he pushed me onto the ground and leaned over me.

"You're a good fighter," he whispered. "And you're pretty too, I can see why Dimitri likes you… It'll be a shame when I kill you… shame indeed…"

"Dad!" Dimitri yelled. "GET AWAY FROM MY GIRLFRIEND, YOU BASTARD!"

He kicked his dad onto the ground and staked him. I looked at him with wonder; it was probably very hard to kill your own father. I wouldn't kill Abe, however annoying he the other Strigoi stared in horror at their dead leader's body.

"Come on," Dimitri suddenly said. "You need to go to the hospital to fix that finger of yours..."

I looked at him; he was softly crying. I pressed my lips to his and we kissed.

"I can't believe it," he moaned. "I've killed my own father…"

"It's alright," I said. "You did what you had to do."

The nurse bandaged up my finger and Dimitri went back to fight. I opened my gifts and spent a while looking at them. Eddie had given me a new shiny stake; Mia gave me a bottle of champagne; Christian had given me a purple watch and Meredith gave me a book.

I began to cry although I hate crying. I had never ever been left out of a fight. I felt useless and stupid, sitting here, while others were risking their lives to save the Moroi. I could see them from below, kicking, staking and punching and I felt angry and jealous. I slipped on my jacket and grabbed the new stake and ran downstairs and to the fighting.

I staked a Strigoi with dark hair and another one next to him. Dimitri saw me, alarmed but said nothing.

I staked another and another and I felt wonderful. Soon the Strigoi had all gone. Hans beamed at everyone.

"Well done, everyone! That was wonderful, guardians, especially Guardian Hathaway Senior, Guardian Hathaway Junior and Guardian Belikov!" he said happily.

We all went away, back to whatever we were doing before.

"Why did you come back?" Dimitri demanded.

"Because I needed to, I felt angry that I was sitting there doing nothing," I explained.

"Hmm," he said crossly.

"Bye," I said cheerfully, going towards the church where Lissa was probably.

"Bye."


End file.
